‘The Stratford Upon Avon & Midland Junction Railway’ (or S.M.J.) was a small independent railway company which ran a line across the empty, untouched centre of England. It visited the counties of Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire and a little of Buckinghamshire, only existing as the SMJ from 1909 to 1923. In 1923 the S.M.J.became a minor arm of the London Midland and Scottish (L.M.S.), then in 1948 'British Railways'

I have just noticed that Byfield and Blakesly station buildings look identical and also Morton Pinkney looks similar. Was it a standard design? Also can any one tell me where i might be able to find a photo of the non platform side i.e. entrance.…Continue

HiI’ve just purchased the book « Track layout diagrams of the Great Western Railway and B.R. (W.R.) section 29” by R.A.Cooke and notice that on page 29/9 concerning Fenny Compton, he mentions a goods shed at the end of the exchange sidings as…Continue

For those interested in the Train Simulator 2014 side of life... I've begun modelling the SMJ railway in the route creator/editor, using terrain from imported Google Earth and imagery of the line from the SMJ days. As you'd expect, the route is…Continue

I see an advert for Volume 1 of Barry Taylor's SMJ history in RM. Apparently it will cover the E&WJR and N&BJR period pre SMJ and is being published by Black Dwarf mid-August, cost &25 plus p.p.Continue

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Train Simulator SMJ

For those interested in the Train Simulator 2014 side of life... I've begun modelling the SMJ railway in the route creator/editor, using terrain from imported Google Earth and imagery of the line from the SMJ days. As you'd expect, the route is centred in Towcester, and will include the following:

- The Olney Branch as far as Olney (Inc. Rstone Wood jct)

- The Blisworth Branch

- The Banbury Branch as far as Helmdon

- The Woodford Branch as far as Blakesley (for now)

I expect that it will take me a majority of 2014 to finish this project, and I will post image updates as I complete major milestones of the route. I will include all intermediate stations along the route, including those that closed early on such as Salcey Forest and Tiffield Halt. If I complete the above stages in less time than I've planned, I will extend the Woodford Branch as far as Woodford Halse as opposed to Blakesley. I will also include every bridge, culvert, crossing and signal that is recorded in Bridge_Numbers document on the site.

I've been looking to upload photos, but I've been having difficulty with screenshots. Towcester station area as far as GN Junction complete already. Olney Branch is underway now, Blisworth branch to follow afterwards. As soon as I have pictures I will share them on here, looking good already!

I'm a new member to the site and just came across this in a search of the site for info on Easton Neston quarry - I've embarked on something similar myself in TS 2017 - hadn't come across anything to suggest that anyone else had an SMJ project on the go!

It sounds like a fantastic project - were you aiming, or would you be interested, in sharing with a wider audience as you progress?

Would you consider giving some input into a few gaps in my knowledge that have become apparent already? I have the gradient profiles for Northampton - RW Jcn - Bedford (and much else Midland!) but nothing for the SMJ (It may be on here somewhere but if so I've not found it yet).

Mileages - a logical "Milepost zero" for the SMJ system would be Towcester SB, but I've not yet found anything to confirm or deny this hypothesis. Have you any gen. on where mileages were reckoned from? Similarly, as some of the infrastructure seems to be of Midland design, MR style mileposts would be believable - again, haven't been able to confirm or deny.

By the way,I just unearthed Eric Tonks' "Ironstone quarries of the Midlands" volume 3, covering the area, in occasionally forensic detail - ISBN 1-870754-03-4: it seems to be a valuable resource as regards the industrial activity of the area. You're probably aware of this, but if not, the above will track it down.

Hello Dave, as far as mileages and mileposts go, the only certainty is that Blisworth Station was used as "Milepost Zero" for the line to Towcester. There are 2 mileposts still standing in the Tiffield area, one TWO MILE and one (TWO AND A) QUARTER MILE concrete posts. These replicate the mileages given in the bridge numbers index for that section. This index also implies that mileages were taken from the junctions i.e. Ravenstone Wood and Greens Norton, but I wouldn't rely on this.